No UK flights until Tuesday, but airlines suspect reasons for ban is unfounded

BRITAIN extended a ban on all flights in its airspace until 1000 AEST on Tuesday as several airlines questioned the decision to ground most of Europe's air traffic.

The National Air Traffic Services said today that because the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland was spread across the UK, current flight restrictions would remain in place.

"Based on the latest information from the Met Office, NATS advises that the restrictions currently in place across UK controlled airspace will remain in place until at least 01.00 tomorrow (1000 AEST Tuesday)."

British Airways said all of its Monday flights were canceled, as did BMI.

A spokesman for BA said the decision to suspend flights was based entirely on safety guidance from the UK airspace authority: "It's as simple as that."

However, German airlines Lufthansa and Air Berlin said the decision to close much of Europe's airspace was not based on proper testing.

The said that their aircraft showed no signs of damage after flying without passengers.

"The decision to close the airspace was made exclusively as a result of data from a computer simulation at the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in London," Air Berlin chief executive Joachim Hunold said.

Not a scratch

"Not one single weather balloon has been sent up to measure how much volcanic ash is in the air."Lufthansa spokesman Klaus Walter added.

"The flight ban, made on the basis just of computer calculations, is resulting in billion-high losses for the economy.

"In future we demand that reliable measurements are presented before a flying ban is imposed."

Lufthansa flew 10 aircraft - without passengers - from Frankfurt to Munich on Saturday, not as proper test flights but to prepare for air traffic returning to normal, Lufthansa spokesman Wolfgang Weber told AFP.

"The planes were analysed and show no signs of damage, not even the slightest scratch on the cockpit glass, the fuselage or the engines," Mr Wolfgang said.

The aircraft flew at heights of between 3,000 metres and 8,000 metres, "and apparently up until 8,000 metres, there is no volcanic ash", he said.

Earlier Germany's national air safety agency DFS said that the country's airspace would remain closed until at least 8pm (0400 AEST) on Sunday.

Lufthansa said it was cancelling all its flights until the same time. All the country's 16 airports were paralysed including Frankfurt, one of Europe's busiest hubs.

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